Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Ok it is all kinds of embarrassing that it has taken me this long to blog about my Work on Words setup and activities. My BFF Marisa over at Glitter and Giggles linked me up Saturday and here I am just now posting. Shame on me! However, I wanted my pics to be a little better so I had to take them all over again ( and I still hate them).

First of all implementing the Daily 5 has been the best decision I have made in my entire teaching career thus far. Spending hours upon hours every 2 weeks (which is what I used to do) to prepare for stations has been replaced with quality engaging activities that are relevant and VERY low maintenance. Not to mention my thirdsters LOVE that they get to be all grown-up and CHOOSE which activity they want to do for the day. I haven't posted many pics of my classroom yet so I want to start by showing a snapshot of my Daily 5/CAFE board.

This huge bulletin board is the focal point of my classroom so I decided to make it my Daily 5/CAFE board all in one. Easy to see and access. The kids move their clothespin to show their choice for each round on a mini clip-chart. This makes it super easy for me to see when they are avoiding (as if they ever do that!) Work on Writing haha!

My Work on Words set-up is nothing fancy but here it is. It sits right below my leveled classroom library. My kids currently have 7 choices for word activities.

Scrabble Spelling

Magnet Words

Type-it

Stamp-it

Game Boards

Boggle

Shake It Up!

My students each have a word ring that contains spelling words, word wall words, and content vocabulary (differentiated according to their needs) that they use with each activity. This is the lifeline of Work on Words in my opinion!

Scrabble- so simple and they never get tired of it. I created a recording sheet for this activity. It's an easy way for me to hold them accountable for their work. You can grab the recording sheet HERE!
Just pick up some tiles and you are set!

Magnet Words- I thought that this would be way too young for my 3rd graders but they seem to still love building the words on the cookie sheets. That's good enough for me. I have them build the word and then record it in their Work on Words journal (a spiral).

Type-it is one that they race for. I just took an old keyboard and fancied it up with cutesy stickers. They "type" their words. I get a kick out of watching them do this. Some of my girls take it so seriously and act like they are at the office.

Stamp-it- definitely not a new idea but again they seem to love it. I have them stamp the words in their journals and then write a sentence using the word.

Boggle- This is by far the most popular in my room. I got this amazing activity from Create-Teach-Share and my kids go bananas for it. I just change the letters weekly to reflect our spelling pattern focus and they go on a word making frenzy. LOVE it!

The newest addition is Shake It Up! I have always loved Discovery Bottles and just never got around to making any... until I was reminded on Pinterest (oh how I love thee) of how much fun they can be. Here is the PIN by the way!
I found the jar and the poms at Dollar Tree (where I also finally found the materials I needed for my Pinterest Cake Stands I have been dying to make... which has absolutely nothing to do with this here post...sorry!) I printed up the 3rd grade Fry words (required for our district) added a fancy label and... Voila!

They find the words, read them, and record them in their journal. When they find all 100 words they get a prize. There is a whole lotta shaking going on let me tell you!

There you have it- this is what goes down during Daily 5 Work on Words in my classroom. I hope you find some of these activities useful. I am always on the look out for new ideas and am so stinkin' addicted to blog stalking that I sometimes forget to blog myself. Next up is a blog devoted to Math Workstations and how we roll with that in my room. Fun, Fun, Fun!!
Thanks for stopping by! Toodles!

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comments:

WOW! You are so organized and your room is adorable :) I loved your fresh ideas about Daily Five, I especially liked Type-It :) What a fun and fab game! If you have time, please check out our blog, we're having a $25 giftcard giveaway!

You are such a creative teacher! Thanks so much for sharing. I nearly flipped when I saw the old keyboard. Like you, I try my best to think of creative ways to teach. My recent posts include math centers made from CD cases and 3D worksheets for notetaking for guided reading.Dawnhttp://literacymathideas.blogspot.com/2012/01/3d-worksheets.html

Love your ideas! I do Daily 5 with my first graders and am always looking for new word work ideas!

Can you tell me a little more about your word rings for every student?? Do they get new spelling words added to their ring each week? Do you take them off or leave them on then when they get new words?? What a great idea!

You are a total inspiration for fellow teachers. I love everything on here, and would love to try some of your activities in my 3rd grade classroom. I was just wondering what you put on the game boards for the word work station. I clicked the link and see where to purchase them, just not sure how you use them. Do you write questions on the spaces? Also, is this Daily 5 something that is popular in your district? I have never heard of it and would love to do some research and learn more about it. Thank you again!

I love your word work set up...great inspiration! I would like to hear more about your spelling and how you set that up in your classroom (possible future post?) It's something that my team and I have been struggling with, but it seems that you have a good routine/system for that. Thanks for sharing! :)

LOVE this entire post! I am starting to use Daily 5 in 4th grade and it's always good to have new ideas and inspiration! I was also wondering what stickers you used for the keyboard. Were they the perfect size or did you have to cut them? Thanks so much!

Hi guys! I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back to you about the keyboard. I just googled "keyboard stickers" and purchased mine from this company http://s348385085.onlinehome.us/?page_id=319My kids adore this activity!

Love the activities and the organization in your classroom. I love anything hands-on. I'm a 4th grade teacher and I can my students using some of these ideas. Thanks! When you have time, check out my blog:http://mrs-c-classroom.blogspot.com

I love your word work ideas! The pics you posted are great and really convey your ideas. I am your newest follower. -Susan3rd Grade Grapevine(for some reason your blog address showed up in the comment above, so I reposted.

Thank you for sharing your amazing ideas! I am definitely going to use them! I love typing spelling words with the keyboard! I have already asked our recycling center to save me all the keyboards that are donated!

There are so many of you that have "hooked" me into the blogging world & have inspired me to want to start my own! If you have any great advice for a newbie- I am willing to learn! I just started my own blog and waiting for my blog makeover which should be ready in a few days! I would love to learn how to create printables etc, but my "nitch" is technology. If you are interested in integrating technology into the classroom, maybe you could stop by:

I would love to have more information on your Daily 5 process. I am thinking about implementing it into my 3rd grade classroom next year. Any advice and information would be greatly appreciated. Do you you pull students for individualized instruction?

I love all of these ideas! This has been the hardest station for me this year but these are great. I do have to admit though, I don't understand how to use the game boards. Can you provide some elaboration?

Love the type-it word work activity!!! What kind of stickers did you use? Did you put the letters on the stickers? How do you make the stickers stay on??? It looks like there are directions in the picture. Would you mind sharing them?

I love these ideas and plan to implement them in the fall! Thanks so much for sharing them. I took a look at the link for the keyboard stickers, but didn't see the one that appears in your pictures. Do you remember the style or name of yours?

Just found you blog on Pinterest! I love it! I am now your newest follower! I just say the Daily5/Cafe in Seattle! It was fantastic! I love your word work centers!! Keeping it simple with 7...but 7 fun ones...I teach 2nd grade so if your third graders love it I know my second graders will! I just started blogging. Come check my blog out!

How fun is this post???? So cute! I am totally going to make some of those Shake it Up containers. That is such a simple way to make them. I also use The Daily 5 and love adding to my Word Study Center. My kiddos love to use my computers for www.spellingcity.com. I love that I can store my lists there for individual students. I can even focus on vocabulary if I need to! Thanks so much for sharing you ideas. I am heading up to follow you blog!☮MonicaThe Schroeder Page

I really like your Shake it up idea. I tried this out, but it seems that my words end up all in one place together. I have tried it both with laminated words and non-laminated. Any suggestions on how to keep the words from all sticking together?

Like some of the others that have posted, I'm interested in the particular style of keyboard stickers that you use. I checked out the website where you purchased them, but can't distinguish which ones you use. Reluctant to get the rainbow ones because the letters look pretty small. Great ideas for Word Work!

To speak the truth this is a nice post concerning this topic. I got a pure solution from here. Also I can refer to you all mailing tubes here to get educational helps. Nevertheless will wait for more posts from the blogger. Thanks a lot…….

Your blog is wonderful. I have an interview for a third grade position AND my school is wanting to move toward everyone using Daily 5. I was so happy to read the first line of your second paragraph. I read the Daily Five book on Tuesday (gotta love vacation) and think it is a fabulous idea. Thanks for all the extra fun ideas for word work, I think I will have to "borrow" some ideas for my very first year not to be overwhelmed. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Just found this post...How funny!! I teach K and had an old key board and I asked for donations from parents. I had been thinking for a while to have typing for my kiddos! and thanks to the fabulous Ashley Hughes I even created a cute card with the words! (On my TPT store)

I would love to create some more recording sheets for some of the word study activities that I have my students do. I love your set up for the scrabble activity and it matches the boggle sheet from the other site. Any chance you'd be willing to share a word document file that could be edited? I'd share back!

Words, English words, are full of echoes, of memories, of associations. They have been out and about, on people's lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries. Applying right word at the right place is very necessary. To get a hand over vocabulary get in touch with https://vocabmonk.com.